Radiation damage to photovoltaics in orbit can be reduced by making the cells thinner. Most space satellites are powered by photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight to electricity. Exposure to certain types of radiation present in orbit can damage the devices, degrading their performance and limiting their lifetime. In Journal of Applied Physics, by AIP Publishing, scientists from the University of Cambridge proposed a radiation-tolerant photovoltaic cell design that features an ultrathin layer of light-absorbing material. When solar cells absorb light,…
National study suggests it’s time to rethink how we treat atrial fibrillation. Early intervention with catheter cryoablation can halt disease progression, reduce risk of serious health impacts. A national study led by UBC researchers at the Centre for Cardiovascular Innovation is shedding light on how to more effectively treat atrial fibrillation (AF) – a common heart rhythm problem associated with increased risk of stroke and heart failure. The study, published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, shows that early intervention with…
… while other marine life languishes in the Florida Keys. In the summer of 2020, Florida Museum researchers Tobias Grun and Michał Kowalewski dove into the shallow waters off the coast of the Florida Keys and scoured the ocean floor for sea urchins. Telltale tracks and dimples in the sediment alerted them to the presence of sand dollars, sea biscuits and heart urchins concealed just beneath the surface. Between August and April of the following year, Grun and Kowalewski visited…
… to evade the immune system. Using DNA barcodes to track cancer cells through time, Garvan scientists have shown that cells within a cancer have diverse abilities to escape immune system defences. Some cancer cells can deploy parallel mechanisms to evade the immune system’s defences as well as resist immunotherapy treatment, according to a new study from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. By suppressing the action of killer T-cells and hindering the ability of the immune system to flag tumour cells…
Researchers prototype a new generation of quantum microscopy. While quantum computing seems like the big-ticket item among the developing technologies based on the behaviour of matter and energy on the atomic and subatomic level, another direction promises to open a new door for scientific research itself – quantum microscopy. With the advance of quantum technologies, new microscopy modalities are becoming possible – ones that can see electric currents, detect fluctuating magnetic fields, and even see single molecules on a surface….
Pacemakers and other medical devices, as well as long-distance drones and remote sensors, could require fewer battery replacements with new approach. For the last few decades, battery research has largely focused on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which are used in everything from electric cars to portable electronics and have improved dramatically in terms of affordability and capacity. But nonrechargeable batteries have seen little improvement during that time, despite their crucial role in many important uses such as implantable medical devices like…
Direct visualization of metal atoms during shear deformation has applications from batteries to lightweight vehicles. How can studying metals manufacturing lead to longer-lasting batteries and lighter vehicles? It all comes down to physics. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are investigating the effects of physical forces on metals by taking a direct look at atomic-level changes in metals undergoing shear deformation. The forces applied during shear deformation to change a metal’s shape also rearrange its atoms, but not in…
… help us breathe cleaner air. Although much of the discourse on reducing vehicle emissions centres on electric vehicles (EV), their sales remain low – with EV vehicles accounting for a mere 1% of car purchases in Japan in 2021. Meanwhile, the European Union is expected to pass stricter emission standards in the near future. This makes improving the performance and functionality of exhaust gas purification catalysts in petrol or diesel-powered vehicles a critical component in the push towards carbon…
… for mass data storage of the future from synthetic biology. Within the project “BIOSYNTH- Modular High-throughput Micro-Platform for Future Mass Data Storage from Synthetic Biology”, funded by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in an internal program, an innovative microchip platform for efficient cell-free and digitally controllable biosynthesis will be developed. The Fraunhofer FEP is the consortium leader and will work together with the Fraunhofer Institutes for Photonic Microsystems IPMS, for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM, for Cell Therapy and Immunology, Bioanalytics and…
Frontera, Stampede2 supercomputer simulations help reveal novel exciton. If you hold one wire mesh on top of another one and look through it, you’ll see a larger pattern called a moiré pattern formed by the overlapping grids of the two meshes, which depends on their relative twisted angle. Scientists developing new materials are actively studying moiré patterns in overlapping atomically thin materials — they produce intriguing electronic phenomena that includes unconventional superconductivity and ferromagnetism. Supercomputer simulations have helped scientists reveal in a bilayer…
Humans cause too much waste not only on Earth. Space debris is also becoming an ever greater problem. To make satellite systems more sustainable, they should be created in a modular system in the future so that individual components can be replaced, thus extending the service life of the satellites. To ensure a problem-free interface between the components, the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS has developed a transceiver that guarantees data transfer between the components. This was integrated into…
IceCube telescope: High-energy neutrinos discovered in galaxy NGC 1068. For over ten years the IceCube Observatory in the Antarctic has been monitoring the light traces of extragalactic neutrinos. While evaluating the observatory’s data, an international research team led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) discovered a high-energy neutrino radiation source in the active galaxy NGC 1068, also known as Messier 77. The universe is full of mysteries. One of these mysteries involves active galaxies with gigantic black holes located…
The University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) demonstrated its autonomous car in live traffic on Kirchberg today, Thursday 3 November 2022. This represents the first time a single-family autonomous car has joined the flow of traffic in Luxembourg with members of the public as passengers. This autonomous car is the test platform for navigation technologies and high definition (HD) maps being researched at SnT’s 360Lab. The demonstration is the culmination of five years of research work…
Konstanz physicists make a surprising discovery when they detect surface melting in glasses. In 1842, the famous British researcher Michael Faraday made an amazing observation by chance: A thin layer of water forms on the surface of ice, even though it is well below zero degrees. So the temperature is below the melting point of ice, yet the surface of the ice has melted. This liquid layer on ice crystals is also why snowballs stick together. It was not until…
… unveiling new discoveries and potential drug targets. Structural insights reveal new potential drug targets for the development of novel antiviral drugs to inhibit influenza virus replication. A team of scientists at University of Oxford have worked with multiple techniques at Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron, to solve the structure of the influenza replication machinery and to determine how it interacts with cellular proteins. This new research furthers understanding of influenza replication and how the virus adapts to…
A signature in the X-ray light emitted by a highly magnetised dead star known as a magnetar suggests the star has a solid surface with no atmosphere, according to a new study by an international team involving UCL (University College London) researchers. The study, published in the journal Science and led by researchers at the University of Padova, uses data from a NASA satellite, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), which was launched last December. The satellite, a collaboration between…
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